Chuck Mraz

News Director

Chuck Mraz has been an employee of MSPR (WMKY) since 1986. As News Director he recruits and trains employees for MSPR's News Department and supervises the morning operations of the station. Chuck hosts "Front Page," a local news and information show, "Monday Morning Quarterback," a sports discussion program and is the local news voice for inserts in NPR's "Morning Edition." He has received numerous state and national awards for his work in news and sports reporting.

The convenience of an online education has become a huge selling point for many universities, including Morehead State. Carly Sanders from the office of Communication and Marketing, tells us how the MSU English Department is helping to set the national standard in virtual learning.

Rowan County Fiscal Court has approved a new budget for 2016. The budget calls for a spending plan of just over nine million dollars.

Rowan County Judge Executive Walter Blevins says the county begins the new fiscal year in better financial shape than anticipated.

“We got about a five hundred and ninety thousand dollar check that we weren’t expecting. Well, we were expecting some but this is pretty high and it’s from the payroll tax. So, it’s an additional five hundred and ninety thousand dollars that we didn’t know we were ‘gonna have this year.” –Walter Blevins

The Rowan County Fiscal Court has selected a location for a new regional jail. Rowan County Judge Executive Walter Blevins says the site is ideal for their needs.

“It’s the old tobacco warehouse, the one on (U.S.) 60 and it’s the one closest to town so it’s next to Caudill Seed. It’s about a six acre site. We think it’s the best location we could find. We’ve looked all over and we’ve looked at about thirty-some different locations and we’ve looked at those versus this one and we think we’ve got the best site.” –Walter Blevins

The Rowan Fiscal Court has adjusted its 2014—15 budget after getting a one-million dollar community development block grant from the state.

Judge-Executive Jim Nickell says the county will be a “pass-thru” agency for the cash, which will be given to the Morehead-Rowan County Economic Development Council, which will turn around and lend it out immediately…

Federal Mogul has announced it will be close its automotive parts’ distribution center in the city at the end of next June. The company reports its making the move in conjunction with an effort to reduce costs and realign its motorparts division.

Maysville Mayor David Cartmell says he first learned of Federal Mogul’s decision at 1pm Tuesday. He calls the news disappointing…

Kentucky Auditor Adam Edelin will be in Morehead next week as he conducts one of ten statewide hearings on the fiscal health of the state’s rural hospitals, and the president and CEO of St. Claire Regional Medical Center admits he is looking forward to Edelin’s visit.

Mark Neff says some of the federal Affordable Care Act’s new requirements are hitting facilities, like his very hard.

Morehead State officials are still analyzing the success of the university’s spring voluntary employee buyout program.

Vice President Beth Patrick is MSU’s Chief Financial Officer. Patrick says of the jobs vacated, the school is attempting to determine which of them need to be refilled, the salary level required and if some of those duties can be divided among other employees.

Kentucky State Police have identified him as 20-year-old Bo Otis of Owingsville. Otis suffered a single gunshot wound to the back of the head at a mobile home located on Rose Road in Clearfield. He died Monday at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington.

KSP trooper Joe Veeneman says the shooting happened at around 1pm Sunday…which is an unusual time of day for that type of incident…

Rather than forcing another government shutdown, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul says Republicans should use rhetoric to shame President Obama into cutting spending when the two sides meet to negotiate an increase in the nation’s debt ceiling and discuss another continuing funding resolution before the January deadline.

Paul says most Americans are concerned about the amount of debt that Uncle Sam is racking-up and want to see that practice end. He adds that reducing federal government spending is not a complicated problem…

Even though it wasn’t on the agenda for this week’s Morehead city council meeting…Mayor David Perkins says the panel will likely hear the first reading of a proposed “Fairness Ordinance” next month.

Perkins says the city’s attorney has been working with the Kentucky Human Rights Commission to finalize the wording and details of the legislation. He believes that crafting the proposed ordinance should not be that difficult…

Rowan Judge-Executive Jim Nickell believes the county and Morehead Tomorrow are close to resolving a dispute over who will take possession of $75,000 in funding that had been stolen from the agency.

Former Executive Director Terri Alderman recently repaid the money to Morehead Tomorrow after she admitted taking it. She’s now serving a five-year prison term. Moth MT and the county have laid claim to that cash and went through a mediation session in late July in an effort to work out their disagreement.

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell is asking the federal EPA to allow Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet to take responsibility for the cleanup of AK Steel’s former coke plant in Ashland. The firm shut down the facility in 2011 because it was considered "non-compliant" with the Federal Clean Air Act.

McConnell says Ashland officials are anxious to market the site to other businesses but can’t do that until environmental remediation takes place. The Republican believes that would happen sooner if the state was in charge…

The Olive Hill City Council will look at a proposal to get rid of the city’s FIVCO Area Drug Enforcement Task Force undercover agent at its meeting next Tuesday night.

The town is facing a $60,000 budget shortfall and Councilman Allen Stapleton says dumping the FADE officer will save between $40,000 and $45,000. Fellow council member Glenn Meade disagrees with the plan…saying it would send the wrong message in a city with a serious drug issue.

Meade says Olive Hill needs to keep its FADE officer and that across-the-board cuts be used to balance the budget…

A dispute between an organization charged with promoting downtown Morehead and Rowan County is still simmering.

Both Morehead Tomorrow and the county claim they should get the $75,000 former M.T. Executive Director Terry Alderman stole from the agency but has since paid back. Efforts to resolve the matter through arbitration at the end of July failed after Rowan Judge-Executive Jim Nickell reportedly said he didn’t have the authorization to make a final decision regarding any proposed solutions.

Sparks says it takes a lot of pre-planning to make sure that traffic patterns work the way they should that day…but he adds the event has generally gone well during his five years as MSU’s top cop, outside of a few issues last year at one of the school’s landlocked dorms…